Aquarius Care Home

Updated 13 October 2025

We carried out this assessment between 27 October 2025 and 19 November 2025. Aquarius Care Home is a residential service providing support to older people living with dementia and physical disabilities for up to 20 people. At the time of our assessment there were 20 people using the service. Two of these people had a learning disability.

We completed this assessment to follow up enforcement action we issued after our last assessment where significant shortfalls had been found in relation to safe care and treatment, person centred care and good governance.

At this assessment, we found the provider had made some improvements and was no longer in breach of regulation with regards to person centred care. [MS1][ND2]This was because new care plans contained personalised information and they were working towards everyone’s records being of the same standard. However, overall actions taken were not sufficient to improve all areas of the service and we found continued breaches of regulation in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance.

This assessment has been undertaken of a service that is used by autistic people or people with a learning disability but is not registered as a specialist service. We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.

People felt safe, but staff were not always guided how to minimise potential risks in their daily lives. There had been a deterioration in the home environment and safety concerns had not been addressed in a timely manner.

Although assessments of people newly admitted to the service were comprehensive and person centred, this was not reflected for people who had lived at the service longer term. The service had not updated the care plans of people currently living at the service, so they provided the necessary guidance for staff.

People and relatives told us there was a high turnover of staff which impacted the quality of care people received. People and relatives said staff were kind and caring but did not always have time to sit and talk with them. There had been improvements in how staff were supported through the use of formal supervisions. However, there were mixed responses from staff about how well they felt supported and listened to.

People continued to be supported to maintain their health and the service had received positive feedback from health care professionals about their working relationship. People had a choice of what to eat and drink to stay healthy.

Improvements had been made in monitoring accidents and incidents and systems to monitor the quality of care had been introduced. However, these processes had not enabled the service to make all the necessary improvements in a timely manner.

Updated 13 October 2025

During the assessment visit we carried out a short observation for inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. We also used a specific communication tool with 1 person. An Expert by Experience also telephoned peoples’ relatives to gain their feedback of peoples’ care and treatment. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. Most people at the service we not able to provide us detailed feedback about their care and treatment because they were living with dementia and other health conditions. However, some people were able to provide feedback.

People and relatives felt safe in the company of staff at the service. They told us the service was kept clean and that staff used appropriate personal protective equipment and washed their hands.

People and relatives told us that staff were not often seen speaking to people outside of supporting people with personal care tasks. People who were able to speak to us about quality of care, told us that they had to guide new staff in how to assist them. As care plans did not always reflect people’s needs, this meant that people had to repeat their needs to staff or if they were unable to explain their needs they may not have received care in a person centred way. People and relatives told us they had enough to eat and drink. They said there was good communication if there were any changes in people’s health needs or health appointments.

People generally felt staff were kind and caring. There were mixed views about whether there were sufficient activities during the day to keep people occupied. Some people told us if they did not go out with their relatives and there was little for them to do.

Relatives felt confident to make a complaint if they needed. They were unaware of being asked for any formal feedback but understood they could complete a suggestion form or approach a member of the management team.

People felt the service was well managed and relatives said they would recommend it to others. Although they did not feel involved in the running of the service they said they could make suggestions.